Afternoon Hours
by thechilldude
Summary: Ranma suffers from depression and he goes to see a psychologist one afternoon every week. This is told from the point of view of the psychologist Frank Crawford who becomes a little more attached to his patient than he should. Watch Ranma's story unfold.


Hello, everybody! It's been a while since I uploaded anything, and I needed to upload something so as to calm down from an emotional high. tehehehe, I've been thinking about my boyfriend all day, so I needed to write this. Anyways, this is just drabble and whatnot, so enjoy! Oh and for this story, I'm not going to bother with Ranma's usual speech in this story since it's so short and it's so late right now. Well, his speech is altered somewhat...Anyways, on with the show, err, story!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ranma in any way shape or form.

* * *

"It all began with a series of accidents." Ranma explained as he overly expressed himself by motioning with his hands. He raised his one hand over his head and placed his other vertically downward as he continued, "It was about this many."

"Continue," I said. I was slightly amused as I watched, transfixed, at the changes in his facial expression. He didn't notice my amusement, however, because by that point in our session he was so engrossed in his story that the rest of the world could have been on fire and he wouldn't have realized it. That was how eventful and exciting, in my opinion anyways, his stories usually were. Of course, he would never dare come close to sharing my opinions with those regards. Still, our sessions never ended in the normal, dull manner that the sessions with my other patients usually ended. At least, now they didn't.

When Ranma Saotome first came into my room, he was pensive. His shy demeanor would continue for the weeks to come, but this was a normal behavior for all new patients, and I never gave any of it that much thought. It wasn't until later, when he opened up to me, that I gave it any thought at all.

Ranma would come into the room, and he would only sit on my sofa when invited him to sit down. Then, when I conversed with him, he would shy away and remain silent until I decided to choose to move onto a different, lighter topic. And everything pretty much remained a routine for the two of us as we interacted with one another. For me, he was like any other customer, and while I made no outward indications, I didn't care about him anymore than the next customer, so long as money came in. Always, however, I would show otherwise and pay him respect and admiration for his accomplishments.

Being the genius psychologist that I am, I was eventually able to break through his outer shell, as I am with all my patients. It took a bit of mixing up strategies in order to achieve this feat; I usually kept with the simple things to do it. Sometimes, I would ask him about things that related to what I was actually looking for, such as his travels to and fro school. Other times I would talk about my own life, with some major modifications, that elicited desired reactions out of him.

When I had broken through that outer shell, he started telling me things pertaining to his life in torrents. At that time, I was thinking to myself, _'Yes, now we are getting somewhere._' And at any point in our conversations from that point on where I wasn't certain whether or not he had told me everything, I wrote down in my notepad for keepsake. If, at any point, I came to a dead end, I would look back at my notes and inquire about them.

This session was around our eighteenth or nineteenth meeting. I can't seem to recall the exact number at this present moment, however, because I am as much engrossed in Ranma's story as he.

"I was in the bathroom, minding my own business on the toilet, when Ryoga suddenly burst into my stall yellin' up a storm and declaring, 'Prepare to die, Ranma!'," Ranma stopped to chuckle at the next part before continuing, "And when he realized what he was doing, the dumb pig blushed - he actually blushed! - and went scampering out of the bathroom with his tail between his legs. You shoulda been there ta see it for yourself."

Ranma then frowned. I became steadily more aware of this and I prepared to jot down some notes. The next part of this story obviously embarrassed him, but at this stage in the game I knew he would openly divulge this next bit of information. "The next day, on my way to school that old hag dropped her cold water on me again, and it turned me into a girl. I didn't let that get my day down, though. I continued on my way to classes with my fiance Akane until I ran into Kuno, again, and I had to stop to deal with him. Anyways, by the time I reached class, I had to stand outside of the classroom while holding those damned buckets of water."

"Anyways, Ryoga somehow found his way to my school again, and he challenged me to a duel. Being in the predicament I am in, though, I didn't want to get into anymore trouble. So I refused him. He attacked me anyways - big surprise there - and still holding those **damned** buckets," I noticed that he had stressed the buckets again, so I began writing in my notebook while continuing to look him in the eye, "all I could do was dodge. Normally, against any other opponent anyways, this wouldn't be a problem because, as you know, I have the best balance out of anyone I know. But this is Ryoga I'm talkin' 'bout. He's pretty good.

"During our duel, I made a misstep, spilling a good portion of the water out of my buckets onto the floor. Well, lo and behold, that turns around to bite me in the ass because Ryoga trips, onto me I might add, and we both go crashing to the ground. Oh, but it doesn't end there," Ranma said. I noted that by now Ranma's face was flushed and his eyes were averted to another part of the room. "Ryoga's lips crashed into mine!" He blurted out the last bit in a half yell.

It took every ounce of my being not to twist my lips into a smirk. Yes, I was well aware by now that nothing in Ranma's life was dull. But I had to restrain myself; I had a job to maintain and my composure along with that.

At that point, I realized that Ranma grew quiet, signalling that he would not be talking anymore today. I checked the time on my watch and noticed that we had gone fifteen minutes over the allotted time period for our session, another occurrence that seemed to be becoming more frequent as of late. However much I would like for him to continue, I told him simply, "Well, Mr. Saotome, It looks like we're all out of time today, I'm afraid. Same time next week?"

"Sure!" Ranma said, beaming up at me. He turned and walked out of the room, a hop in his step, before turning back around and telling me, "Thank you for your time, Mr. Crawford. You take care."

"You too!" I called out to him as he was on his way out. It was then that I let myself break out into a fitful of laughter. "They kissed," I murmured, almost in a sadistic way.

Ranma suddenly peeped around the corner and asked, "What's so funny, Mr. Crawford?"

"Oh nothing," I replied hastily.

"Oh, okay." Ranma said even though he looked doubtful. "I might be a little late next week due to the school festival that's coming up. I gotta help with the planning and all."

"That shouldn't be a problem. I don't have any appointments afterward so we can go overtime then as well." I said with a confirming nod. Ranma just smirked and left again without another word. I blinked confusedly until I realized that I had just openly admitted that my extended appointment with Ranma was intentional.

* * *

I sat at my desk, waiting anxiously for Ranma to arrive. He said that he would be late, but as usually with him, I still came thirty minutes early, another occurrence that had been happening as of late. I checked the time on my clock for the umpteeth time that afternoon, and then decided to go to the break room for a cup of coffee. I needed to push down those jitters before engaging in an exciting conversation with Ranma.

I made my way down the hall in no time at all and opened the door leading to the break room. There, I found one of my colleague's who apparently had the same idea as I. I removed a mug from the cupboard and poured myself a cup of freshly made black coffee (my colleague loved black coffee, but I was a different story). I reached for the creamer at the end of the cabinet and dumped the stuff into my cup. I then took a spoon and mixed it thoroughly before taking a sip of my cup. I winced slightly as I realized the coffee was scalding.

"I can't believe how much cream you put into your coffee, Frank." Donna said as she walked to the other end of the room, where table was perched. She sat herself in one of the vacant chairs. She pulled the ends of her hair behind her ear before looking me in the eye, trying to discern what mood I was in. I knew she had a thing for me, but I never approached her in anyway except a business fashion.

I took the chair opposite of her and seated myself hastily (I was still jittery as I waited for my meeting with Ranma). Unfortunately, in my haste some of the coffee spilt onto my hand. I hissed as I retracted my hand impulsively, comforting it in the palm of my other hand.

"Oh, let me get a paper towel for you."

"No, I'm fine. I can get it myself, Donna." I said, getting up from my seated position to walk over to the other end of the cabinet.

As I went about my business, she asked, "So when's your next appointment?"

"It should be any minute now." I noted warily. I didn't want to relinquish the tidbit of information that I was looking forward to my next meeting. If I did, then she wouldn't shut up for the next three weeks as she attempted to extract all the information I knew about my patient, and as the law goes, everything that is said in my room is strictly confidential. Seriously, though, she's been working here three years longer than I have; by now, one would think that she would have a firm grasp on that important detail.

"Are you looking forward to it?" she asked.

I hesitated before dropping my used paper tower into a dispenser and said, "I think I should be going now." Smooth. Now she would want to know all about Ranma for sure. Before she could ask any further, however, I glided out of that room, back down the hallway, and into my room.

When I entered, I found that Ranma was already waiting patiently on the couch (I'm glad that we are long past formalities here). I apologized serenely and strapped myself in my chair and waited for my joy ride to begin. I mean for our meeting to begin.

"So, how has this past week been? Anything eventful?" I asked. I rummaged through the drawers of my desk searching for my 'handy-dandy notebook' until I realized that I had forgotten my notepad at home on my counter. Internally I cursed before I halted everything I was doing and glanced upward at my patient.

Ranma stared at me quietly for a moment before asking, "Is anything the matter, Mr. Crawford?" When I replied no, his lips drew up into a smile and he said, "Well, I guess my week was okay, for the most part. I had a lot of work to do, so my mind was preoccupied with things."

"And how are things with Ryoga?" I asked. Again, I internally cursed myself. Honestly, this has nothing to do with Ranma's overall mental state. Ryoga was nothing more to Ranma than a friend, if at that (as their friendship seemed to be one sided at this point), and for me to ask about Ryoga is - I stopped myself short as I looked at the blush that emerged on Ranma's cheeks. Perhaps I may be onto something afterall.

"Well, to put it in a way, he's no longer fighting with me. How do I put this...?" Ranma drawled. He allowed for a pregnant pause before continuing, "I've been catching him staring at me a lot recently. Just the other day, he stared at me a grand total of twelve times at the dinner table. And when he asked me to lead him the way home, he asked me to hold his hand." When I gave him a blank stare, as I was unable to connect the dots, Ranma explained, "Ryoga is eternally lost."

I mouthed an 'oh' in repliance, as if I completely understood Ryoga's situation. I then held a hand out, motioning with it, I asked, "And why did you help him?"

Ranma suddenly became defensive and snapped, "'Cuz he's my friend, okay?"

"And did you hold his hand as he requested?"

"Yeah I held his hand. But don't get the wrong idea; he was a friend in need!" Ranma's rosy cheeks told me otherwise, but I kept my opinion locked away to myself. "And when he was gettin' ready ta go into his apartment, he - he hugged me!"

"Well, that's quite the interesting development. And how did you take this form of affection?" I inquired.

Perhaps the use of my word 'affection' in this scenario was a bit too strong, for once said, nothing could stop Ranma from stuttering as he replied, "I-I pushed him a-away and c-called him a p-pervert!"

I stopped to go over Ranma's statement and let it sink into my head. He called Ryoga a pervert for giving him a friendly hug? Well, that was certainly an odd response to something that didn't seem harmful, well to me anyways. But as with Ranma, anything that seemed normal in an everyday scenario could be made into an interesting debate. And while I didn't find Ranma's crush on Ryoga to be a major impact in Ranma's problems overall, it was certainly amusing as well.

"And did anything else eventful happen this week?" I asked.

"No, but I approach Ryoga about his constant staring yesterday. he vehemently denied it, so I had no choice but to drop it." Ranma said.

At that precise moment, my watch beeped at me with its incessant, blaring noise (I had made a point not to let today's meeting go beyond what it should). "Well, that wraps it up for today's meeting. I shall see you around the same time next week?" I asked innocently.

Ranma shook his head as he replied, "No, actually I have the festival to worry about, and then come exams. I won't be available until the second week of next month."

At that, I felt rather disappointed, but I there was no way I would allow my patient to see that. "Alright then, I will be seeing you in about a month."

* * *

Time came and went for me, and while I surrounded myself in the presence of others in the form of patients and annoying colleagues (insert you know who here). And for a while, I was actually able to forget about Ranma. I went about my daily business, tending to my patients and their ongoing treatment (as cracking the shell of a person very rarely causes someone to be cured there; the process usually takes months, or years, or sometimes forever).

One bright and early morning, however, my mind reverberated back to Ranma. My meeting with him was today and I knew that today I would again be anxious as I waited for him to come to my room and tell me all the interesting things that have gone on in his life. After a warm shower, a clean shave, and a quick change of clothes, I went over to my bedside where my endtable stood to retrieve my notepad I specifically bought to keep track of Ranma's life. In my escapade, however, I noticed that my notebook wasn't on the end table.

After a long search in my house, a few cancellations of appointments with my patients, and overturning every piece of furniture I was readily able to in my apartment, I concluded that my notebook had gone missing. Again.

And so I went straight to the breakroom late that afternoon, thoroughly pissed. Half of my day was gone, I hadn't eaten a single thing that day (and now my stomach was rumbling), and to make matters worse, I was almost late for my appointment with Ranma.

Luckily, however, I still had enough time to grab myself a cup of coffee and down it before heading to my office. As I entered the room, I was enthralled that I was the only one in the room. I set the coffee going with just the right amount of coffee beans, and I watched the coffee maker whir to life. I smiled as I retrieved my creamer and a mug and readied myself with my weapons of steel.

Just as the coffee was finished, as I poured my own coffee and was about to drink it, my colleage, Donna, entered into the room. "So, tell me about your interesting patient." She said as she grabbed her own coffee mug and poured herself a glass.

I said bitterly, "That's none of your business." I then finished my coffee, and was almost out the door when Donna stopped me.

"Oh come on, tell me all about Ranma." Donna said.

I stopped. There was no way she should have known his name. I turned back around and glared at her. "You're the one who stole my notebook, weren't you? And I bet it wasn't the first time you've done it either."

"So what if I was?" She asked.

I scoffed at her and exited the room. When I entered my own room, I once again found that Ranma had beaten me to the punch. However, this time there were two noticeable differences. The first thing that I noticed was that Ranma was in his female form. The second thing that I noticed was that Ranma appeared to be on the verge of crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. I was wholly worried about her, and I don't think I would have hesitated to cross the room and outright give her a hug if she had not spoken up.

I am very happy to report that I did not hug her, as it would be a violation of my patient-doctor protocol. In the next few moments, she explained, "I-I. I hate my father. He told me how unmanly I am and that I am a disgrace as a Saotome to my family."

I frowned as I realized that this was what it was all about. I recalled that once before Ranma had come in like this. It seemed to me that Ranma's father was always imposing his way of life onto her. In fact, the whole reason Ranma was in this mess was because of her no good father. I despised that man within the deepest recesses of my heart. How could he not see what a wonderful and compassionate son, half of the time daughter, he had? Man amongst men? In the end, who gives two shits about that crap? Why I oughtta - I stopped myself short.

I really needed to stop going off on a tangent in my sessions with Ranma. I was beginning to lose what little edge of composure I had remaining. I responded, "Come now, Ranma, you know those things to be untrue. Being manly or unmanly doesn't mean anything and how in anyone's right mind could ever think of you as a disgrace is beyond me." I realized I had nearly shouted, not at Ranma, but at the world in general.

Ranma let a tear escape her eye, but she quickly wiped it away from his cheek before asking, "What do you mean?"

I pondered for a moment whether or not I should allow myself this one moment to display my torrent of emotions for the world to see. On the one hand, I have a better chance of cheering Ranma up, and on the other I could seriously wind up losing my job or worse. I bit my lip going over the decision in my mind when I saw Ranma on the verge of breaking down. At that point, I said to hell with it and stated exactly what was on my mind. "You're kind-hearted, you stick up for people, you always see the good side in people even when you don't voice your own thoughts, and it's obvious that you place yourself in other people's shoes even if what you say doesn't always come out the right way. Yes you have your downsides, but what person doesn't? You have a heart of gold, Ranma Saotome, and I for one am abhorred by what your father has hammered into you your entire life."

Ranma stared at me, dumbstruck. "I don't know what to say..." she whimpered as tears freely escaped her eyes. She stared up at me as if asking for a hug.

I was tempted to accept her request, but I reminded myself I was already trailing on a fine line as it is and that I shouldn't push it. I broke eye contact with her, something I would never do under normal circumstances, and rubbed my temple with my hand. I said, irritated, "How about you tell me just what elicited your father's reaction this time. Was it your harmless experimenting again?" I was well aware by now that I had crossed that fine line, but there was no stopping me now. I considered Ranma a great friend to me, and I wanted nothing more than to stick up for her.

"N-no," Ranma said. The 'harmless experimenting' I had mentioned before was about Ranma masturbating in her female form. Her father had caught her in the act of masturbating, and boy was he infuriated with her that day. Scratch that and make it a week. To add on top of that, he forbade her food for a week. Seriously, her father was downright cruel towards her.

"It was actually about R-Ryoga," She said.

I did a double-take. Did I just hear her say Ryoga? I shook my head disbelievingly and asked, "What does this have to do with your father?"

"He's been paying me so much attention lately, and he hangs out with me and listens to me. He cares about how I feel. Oh, I don't know what I'm saying...It's just that, He wasn't looking at me as a prize to be won. He was just looking at me for who I am. And he's been so, so sweet to me that I just couldn't say no to him." She bit her lip as she quieted down.

"And?" I motioned for her to continue. I wanted to her all what she had to say. I wanted to know the root problem in her life. "Ranma, please tell me." I said, trying to elicit a response. Before she got the chance to say anything, the beeping of the alarm on my watch went off, signalling the end of the allotted time of our session. Oh no, there was no way I was going to let this meeting end without a clearer resolution. I violently ripped my watch off my wrist, giving myself an indian burn in the process, and smashed it on the floor. I then stomped on it with my foot, putting and end to its short lifespan. "To hell with that infernal racket!" I shouted.

Ranma whimpered as she mumbled something inaudible to me. She then said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Crawford. You're obviously very bothered about the way I feel for Ryoga...Y-you must hate me too." She said this with tears flowing down her cheek one after the other, but she didn't attempt to stop them now.

When I realized what I had just done, I forced myself to calm down. I had to stop myself before I got anymore out of hand. I was scaring Ranma more than I was helping her. I gently placed my hands on her shoulders and soothly rubbed them. "I'm sorry. It's not you, Ranma. I shouldn't have gotten you so upset like that. It's just that I want to help you out so bad right now that I forgot my place. Could you ever forgive me?" My chances at finding out what was wrong with Ranma had most likely gone down the drain when I flipped out. I cursed at myself internally, but I knew that there was nothing I could do about it. It was highly likely that I would have to spend the next month alone trying to regain her trust before I could get her to open up about it again.

I was just about to let go of her and lead her to the doorway when she glomped me, taking me by surprise. I widened my eyes and stared down at her, unable to do anything except hug her. While it was not unheard of to hug your patient, it should be done only under the most pressing of matters. I think right now would be one of those times in which I needed to return her hug.

Ranma balled her eyes out in my chest, something I was not accustomed to. Never before had I seen her cry, with this vigor at any rate. "R-ryoga asked me out, and I s-said yes. At first I wanted to say no, but the more I tried the more my heart told me to say yes, and when I did I was happier than I had ever been in my life because he had kissed me. I should have been disgusted, but my heart beat faster and faster, and then he wrapped his arms around me. That was when my father dropped in on us and he was angry and he called me a disgrace to the family and a slut and all other sorts of things that I couldn't understand. All I know is my life had just dropped a curve ball right at me. Mostly everything else was a blur, but I remember that he called me a weak girl.

"Normally that wouldn't have mattered to me, but at that moment it hit home more than anything else he called me that night. My heart hurt so much, even after Ryoga and the Tendo's beat the living shit out of him. After that I just wanted to be left alone. I wanted to tell Ryoga how I felt but I didn't want to worry him anymore than I already had and I was afraid that he would go overboard and kill my father like you just did. Well, you seemed like you would kill him if given the chance, anyways. As much as I hate my father, I don't want him dead!" She continued crying.

And then I realized the error in my ways. I suddenly felt really, really guilty. But she continued, "I wanted to give everything my father asked for in me. I tried to, I really did, but my heart just can't take that anymore. And I don't know what to do because I'm stuck between fulfilling his request and fulfilling my own desires. Ever since I became cursed to become a girl, he has had me really scared to so much as think about becoming a girl. He's called them weak and has said that they aren't able to do anything without a man around to support them. It scares me because a part of me wants that lifestyle. I want to be in Ryoga's arms because where I feel I belong. I've fallen very deeply, madly in love with him."

I softly pushed her away and stared into her eyes. I kept her at a close distance, should she need me to cry on more. "First of all, I'd like to point out that your father cannot choose how your life goes, **you** do. No amount of arguing can ever _make_ you do what he wants if that is really what you want. He may try to set an example and steer you in one direction or another, but **you** ultimately have the final choice. Second of all, if you are ever to be truly happy in your life, you should always listen to your **heart**. It'll always guide you in the right direction. Lastly, **gender** shouldn't always be your first consideration in deciding your relationship with another person. Whether you're a girl or a guy, or if you're in an opposite sex or same sex relationship, **love is love. **At the end of the day, if you can't wholly tell yourself and your partner you love them, then what different would it make if they were the same sex or the opposite sex? You would be just as unhappy, regardless of their sex. I guess what I'm trying to say in all this is, 'stay true to your heart'."

Ranma was silent all throughout my speech. She continued to cry softely, but it was nothing compared to earlier. And when she smiled, I knew that my speech had made her heart feel so much better. "Th-thank you so much, Mr. Crawford." She hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek before heading to the door. "I'll talk to you later, Mr. Crawford. There's much I have to talk about with my family and with Ryoga."

I stared at the doorway in which she had been at only moments before. Had all of that really just taken place? Had I really had that long of a talk with her? Had she really kissed me on the cheek? I think I was developing a - no, I must push that down. No, she had her own man already. That much had already been made clear, but I was really glad that her heart was finally at peace. I was sad to report, however, that that was the last time I would ever see her. In my office, at any rate. Now, _hanging out _with her and her new boyfriend on Sunday afternoons, that was a different story altogether.

* * *

I think I went slightly overboard on the bold print there at the end, but I got my message out. I'd been trying so hard to place that raw emotion in my ranma 1/2 stories, and I think I finally reached my goal. I don't think it's any possible to hit closer to home than I had just done. I won't bother with writing out the actual RanmaxRyoga scene, as I don't think I need to. I think we can all pretty much imagine how things turn out in the end. Oh, and by the way. I would be Ranma in this story, and my boyfriend would be Ryoga. hehe. Anyways, as always, read and review. I want to know what you guys thought of it.


End file.
